I Became The Tyrant Of A Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 121

After traversing the long corridor, I returned to the base camp in a few hours. The curse on the vertical passage had also been lifted. Opening the manhole cover and climbing out, I found myself in the familiar safety zone.

I let out a sigh, “Hah…”

I was in a daze, not expecting to be ambushed by a stage boss in a place like this.

The mental fatigue was as great as the physical exhaustion.

‘Dungeons are monster strongholds, so ambushes are to be expected. But for a stage boss to come directly is beyond the pale.’

The already insane game difficulty was fluctuating again.

I need to come up with a plan. As soon as I get back to Crossroads, I’m going to grab that director by the collar and shake him down.

At that moment, my party members, who also looked exhausted, emerged one by one from the vertical passage.

I forced a smile for my party members.

“You all worked hard.”

All four of them stood in front of me in a row. They still looked gloomy.

“Hey, don’t make that face! It’s only natural that we lost to him right now.”

It would be weird if we won. That would be even more shameless.

“It’s because I was lacking…”

Lukas, head bowed, mumbled in a suppressed voice.

“I exposed my lord to the enemy. I’m a failure as a guard.”

“Hey, it’s not because you’re lacking.”

If an SSR grade [Super Super Rare, a high-ranking character] is lacking, then what about me, with my trash stats worse than an N grade [Normal, the lowest rank]? Huh? Should I go over there and bang my head against the wall? Huh?

But Lukas didn’t seem to want to stop blaming himself.

Lukas pressed his lips together and bowed his head deeply.

Next to him, Damian was looking down at his shattered crossbow.

“…I could follow the vampire with my eyes. But, my body couldn’t react.”

He could follow with his eyes, huh? That’s amazing in itself.

“Just seeing with my eyes… isn’t enough sometimes.”

Clench.

Damian, with a determined face, looked at me.

“I’ll train my body. Your Highness. Even to use these eyes better… !”

“…”

I was inwardly surprised. I didn’t expect Damian to say something like that first.

Next to him, Evangeline, grinding her teeth, raised her shield.

“I can block it next time.”

“His attack? Really?”

“Of course. I couldn’t read the trajectory of the attack with my eyes like the sniper, but I could intuitively sense which direction the attack was coming from.”

Evangeline glared sharply with her pointed green eyes.

“My hesitation to not move according to my intuition is what led to our defeat.”

Intuition.

Could it be related to the activation of Evangeline’s unique trait, [Crossroads]?

She wouldn’t have been able to activate it this time because she didn’t have her unique equipment.

“Next time, I’m not just going to block it, I’m going to smash that vampire’s jaw with my shield.”

Evangeline growled fiercely.

“Just you wait. Next time, I swear.”

Finally, Junior shrugged his shoulders.

“Magic-wise, he was completely above my head.”

The Vampire King seemed to be on a much higher level than even an SSR-grade genius mage.

“It was the first time I’ve seen such a concise magic formula reverse calculation. To nullify my magic in an instant… he didn’t get the title of monarch for nothing.”

Immediately after, Junior smiled brightly.

“But thanks to that, I got a hint.”

“A hint?”

“Yes. I never thought there would be such a way to use it… I’m grateful to that vampire. Thanks to him, I gained valuable knowledge.”

He learned something while being defeated by Selendion?

I looked around at my party members. Everyone seemed to have gained some kind of realization.

Selendion only came to ask me a question, and in the process, he subdued my party members without much thought.

But perhaps that provided an opportunity to make my party members even stronger.

“No matter what it takes.”

Lukas gritted his teeth.

“Next time we meet him, no matter what it takes… I will stand in front of my lord. By any means necessary.”

I was about to say something to stop him, but I just nodded.

“I believe you, Lukas.”

I decided not to dampen my guard’s resolve.

Instead, I hoped that his resolve would be honed even sharper.

No matter how you sugarcoat it, a loss is a loss.

By dwelling on that bitter taste, reflecting, and learning from it, we can become stronger.

“Hey, you rookies!”

Just then, I saw the dwarf blacksmith, Kellybay, stomping towards us. It was Kellybay.

“You crazy bastards! I heard you went straight into the Path of the Defeated and off to the Colosseum! How did you manage to come back alive!”

Kellybay, who was running towards us with a chuckle, soon noticed that our faces weren’t very bright.

His voice became cautious.

“What’s wrong, did something happen? Did you fail?”

“We conquered the Colosseum, Master Blacksmith.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“The problem was after that.”

“After that?”

“The Vampire King came to us directly. We each got a beating.”

Kellybay’s eyes widened as if they would pop out.

“Wha, what?! Selendion, personally?!”

I shoved the whole bag of dark crystals into Kellybay’s arms, who was about to ask more questions.

Kellybay received it, looking bewildered.

“Kellybay. Please make the divine weapons.”

I spoke in a serious voice.

“We must take that monster’s head. But the reality is that we lack the power. That’s why the weapons you make are more important than anything else.”

“Hehehe.”

Kellybay, who opened the bag and chuckled, winked at me.

“All the materials are gathered. Good. I’ll start right away. What kind of weapons should I make?”

“Longsword. Lance. And…”

I glanced at Damian and said with emphasis.

“Arrows.”

Kellybay jumped up from his spot, startled.

“What? Ar, arrows? You rich kid! You’re going to waste that precious divine grace on arrows?!”

“Yes, I am.”

I didn’t hesitate.

“If it can be used to kill the Vampire King, is it just divine grace? I’d gladly throw away something even more precious.”

“…”

“So, without further ado, please make them with the best quality.”

Kellybay, who was looking at me with his mouth slightly open, soon burst into laughter.

“Good, good! You’re right. If we can kill Selendion, there’s no need to save divine grace.”

Kellybay took something out of his pocket and showed it to us.

“I got this to make your weapons even more special.”

“This is…?”

It was a tree branch.

A tree branch with a red aura surging from the entire branch… emitting a strange wave.

“It’s ‘Devil’s Mistletoe,’ which only grows in the deepest part of this dungeon. It’s also called Mistilteinn [a mythical sword or spear].”

“A cursed tree branch… !”

That’s a rare material item that you can only get in the late game. I swallowed hard.

“If you make an item using that tree branch…”

“Ho. You seem to know about it, you promising prince.”

Kellybay explained with a grin.

“If you use this tree branch to alchemize a weapon… it will become a cursed blade that greatly reduces the healing ability of the enemy it hits.”

This old blacksmith looks like Santa Claus.

“There couldn’t be a better gift for those vampire bastards.”

Kellybay’s words meant that he would add a healing reduction effect to the divine weapons as a bonus effect.

This would truly make it a hard counter weapon against vampires.

Surprised by the unexpected windfall, I nudged Kellybay’s shoulder with my eyes.

“Did you get hurt while getting that?”

Kellybay’s shoulder was wrapped in a blood-stained bandage.

No wonder he was gone for a while. He must have gone to get that. And got hurt in the process.

“Hey, don’t say weird things! I just fell down in front of here and got a little scrape. This tree branch, I just picked it up on my way back from a short trip over there.”

Kellybay, who was grumbling for no reason, then looked at me and my party members with a heavy gaze.

“This is all I can do to help.”

The blacksmith, who had lost all his brothers to Selendion, had a rare serious look on his face.

“Please, kill that monster.”

***

[Free Exploration Ended!]

[Leveled Up Characters]

– Ash (EX) Lv.34 (↑10)

– Lukas (SSR) Lv.40 (↑2)

– Evangeline (SSR) Lv.40 (↑1)

– Jupiter Junior (SSR) Lv.37 (↑1)

– Damian (N) Lv.35 (↑2) (Second Job Change Available!)

[Deceased and Injured Characters]

– None

[Acquired Items]

– Dark Crystal: 20

– Summon Scroll: Chimera Origin

– Colosseum Victory Box: 6

***

As soon as we returned to Crossroads, the party was disbanded.

Everyone was sent back to their lodgings.

“Everyone, don’t think about anything and just rest! Lukas, you too, rest even until dinner!”

It was a two-day, one-night schedule, they got beaten up in battle, their pride was scratched, their legs were tired from walking for so long, everyone must be dying.

“Understood. I will rest for a bit and resume my guard duties, my lord.”

“I’m going to sleep for a bit. See you at dinner later, senior. Haa…”

Lukas and Evangeline went into the lord’s mansion,

“Call me anytime if you need me, Your Highness!”

“I need to review today’s battle. Then, Your Highness? I’ll wait for your call.”

Damian and Junior returned to the temple and inn, respectively.

I waved my hand at my party members, who were trudging towards their respective lodgings. Rest well, guys.

“Ugh, I’m tired…”

As soon as I returned to the mansion, I went straight to my room and collapsed on the bed. Thud.

It seems that facing the Vampire King alone was more mentally exhausting than I thought.

My head is spinning and I feel nauseous.

‘…’

As soon as I thought of him, my consciousness became clear, regardless of my condition.

Those red eyes.

The predator’s gaze that looked down on humans as if they were insects.

‘To look down on us so much and then beg for death from a human. It’s absurd.’

I gritted my teeth and got up from the bed.

Fatigue was all over my body, but I couldn’t relax.

‘Let’s organize the items I got this time first.’

I sat up straight on the bed and opened my inventory.

The items I acquired from this free exploration were not bad at all.

First, Summon Scroll: Chimera Origin.

It’s a one-time skill that allows you to summon and control a boss-level monster.

Like the giant steam golem that I used effectively in the last Stage 3, I can now summon a Chimera Origin.

‘It was turned to dust by a single shot from Black Queen, so it feels a bit weak, but…’

In reality, the Chimera is a strong monster.

Even if it’s not as strong as the giant steam golem, it will be quite a handful for those vampires.

‘More than anything, the Chimera’s blood is poisonous. It’s practically immune to vampires.’

…I know that theoretically, but it still feels weak since it was blown away by a single shot. Tsk.

Anyway, it’s good that I have more cards to use. I gratefully used the summon scroll and registered the skill.

‘Next is the Colosseum Victory Box.’

The Colosseum dungeon doesn’t have separate box looting, but instead, it gives rewards by calculating the number of waves won and putting the boxes in the inventory.

If I had won up to Wave 7, Jackal, I would have received the ‘Colosseum Championship Box,’ but since I skipped Jackal as an event, these 6 were all I got. I guess it’s better than nothing.

‘I also have some boxes that I saved from before.’

I took out the boxes I had kept in my inventory.

Boxes I received as rewards for clearing Stage 4.

5 R-grade [Rare] reward boxes. 2 SR-grade [Super Rare] reward boxes.

I left them alone because I didn’t need any items right away, but the real reason I didn’t open these boxes was one thing.

It was because of a superstition from when I played the game.

‘If you open 10 at once, you feel like you get better items!’

Whether it’s a single pull or a multi-pull, the probability of getting an item is the same.

But somehow, when I open them in units of 10, I feel like I see gold more often.

I know it’s just a feeling, but when you do this box opening thing, you can’t help but be influenced by shamanism and totemism!

Anyway, a total of 13 boxes that I had collected.

I decided to open them all without holding back. I opened the boxes all at once.